No Egos Allowed

When we started VividCortex, we wanted to be purpose-driven in our approach to the world. A business has a lot more to it than just its target market and product. We want to change things, by bringing technical intelligence to the world, and this means putting together a team of committed people who believe in this mission.

In many of the companies we’ve worked, we’ve experienced the prima donna, the know it all, the rock star, etc. While these people may have a clear technical skillset that sets them apart from their peers, they simply aren’t team players. They harm productivity and make end goals more difficult. “No egos allowed” is a way for us to achieve our mission and let everyone share in the results.

From our employee handbook:

Lose the ego. We don’t take criticism personally, and we aren’t possessive about what we’re working on. We succeed or fail together, and our shared goals are more important than personal prestige. We try to be direct but kind when we offer suggestions to others, and we try to criticize the work, not the person who did it. We try to leave others graceful ways to fix problems.

This is one of our most important values. How does your organization deal with this issue?